Pence slams special counsel Jack Smith over requests to testify in Jan. 6 inquiry

Cami Mondeaux

February 25, 11:58 AM February 25, 11:58 AM

Mike Pence hit out against special counsel Jack Smith over his efforts to compel the former vice president to testify against former President Donald Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election, arguing the move is “unprecedented” and possibly “unconstitutional.”

Since being appointed to head the Justice Department investigation in November, Smith has hit the ground running by bringing a number of the former president’s closest aides before a grand jury to testify. As part of those efforts, Smith has also reportedly pushed for Pence’s testimony to detail behind-the-scenes conversations of Trump’s actions aimed at overturning his loss to President Joe Biden.

SPECIAL COUNSEL JACK SMITH HITS GROUND RUNNING IN TRUMP JAN. 6 INVESTIGATION

“Subpoenaing a former vice president to testify in court against the president with whom they served, I believe, is unprecedented in American history,” Pence told NBC News on Friday. “But as I said last week, I believe it’s also unconstitutional. And we’ll make that case through the ordinary judicial processes, but my counsel informs me that I’m, I’m constrained from speaking about it any further, but I stand by what I said. And I will continue to.”

DOJ officials sought Pence’s testimony as part of its investigation into Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election and the subsequent riot at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. As part of that effort, witnesses have been asked questions about meetings Trump held in December 2020 and January 2021 to consider actions aimed at overturning the election, as well as the former president’s pressure campaign on Pence to assist with that effort on Jan. 6.

DOJ officials reportedly reached out to Pence’s team sometime last year, and sources initially suggested the former president could be open to testifying. However, Pence’s comments to NBC News indicate he will not do so.

Prosecutors have sought details about meetings in which Trump and some of his allies suggested submitting alternative slates of electors that could be called on in the event that the election was decertified, according to the New York Times. Previous reporting said the DOJ has been investigating such Trump allies as John Eastman and Rudy Giuliani for their part in advising the former president as they developed strategies to block Biden's path to the White House.

The DOJ has also received the phone records of top officials in the Trump administration, including former chief of staff Mark Meadows, sources told the Washington Post last summer. The investigation aims to uncover what the former president told his attorneys and senior officials to do as part of their bid to change the 2020 election outcome, and there are two other paths that could lead to additional scrutiny of Trump, the sources said.

One centers on seditious conspiracy and conspiracy to obstruct a government proceeding, similar to charges levied against those arrested for storming the Capitol. Another involves charging Trump with fraud in connection to the false electors plot or his efforts to pressure the DOJ to overturn the results of the election.